American Idols LIVE! Tour 2008 was a summer concert tour in the United States and Canada that featured the top 10 contestants of the seventh season of American Idol, which aired in 2008. This tour followed in the tradition of other American Idol summer tours following the completion of the season in May. The 53-date tour which covered 49 cities started on July 1 and ended on September 13.^[1]

The tour was sponsored by Kellogg's Pop-Tarts and Guitar Hero.^[2]

Performers[link]

Show overview[link]

In a departure from previous tours, where the shows consisted of many duets and/or group performances, shows from this tour were crafted as a series of mini-concerts for each contestant because of the diverse talent working in different genres.^[3] Each performer performed their own set of song - three songs for the tenth place finisher Chikezie, increasing up to five songs for the winner David Cook. Each of the two segments of the show ended with a group number.

Most of the finalists on the tour chose to reprise at least one song they had previously done on American Idol, apart from Ramiele who selected a whole new set of songs. Others chose songs they had wanted to perform on the TV shows but were unable to, or performed but not shown, such as David Cook's My Hero (Foo Fighters), and Jason Castro's Crazy (Gnarls Barkley).

The participants of the tour themselves had planned on an ensemble performance as revealed by David Cook on EW.com's Idolatry, where the possibility of a live collaboration of "Barracuda" featuring himself on guitar, Jason Castro on drums and Carly Smithson on vocals was mooted.^[4] The suggestion was however rejected by Idol tour producers.^[5]

Set list[link]

David Cook performing during the American Idols Live! Tour 2008.

• Chikezie: "I Believe to My Soul" (Donny Hathaway), "Caught Up" (Usher), "So High" (John Legend)
• Ramiele Malubay: "I Want You Back" (The Jackson Five), "Love Will Lead You Back" (Taylor Dayne), "If I Never See Your Face Again" (Maroon 5 featuring Rihanna)
• Michael Johns: "We Will Rock You"/"We Are the Champions" (Queen), "It's All Wrong, But It's All Right" (Dolly Parton), "Dream On" (Aerosmith)
• Kristy Lee Cook: "Squeezin' the Love Outta You" (Redmon and Vale), "God Bless the USA" (Lee Greenwood), "Cowgirls" (Kerry Harvick).
• Carly Smithson: "Bring Me to Life" (Evanescence), "Crazy on You" (Heart), "I Drove All Night" (Cyndi Lauper)
• Brooke White: "Let It Be" (The Beatles), "1234" (Feist), "Yellow" (Coldplay)
• 10th - 5th place contestants: "Pride (In the Name of Love)" (U2)

Intermission

• Jason Castro: "Over the Rainbow" (Israel Kamakawiwo'ole), "Crazy" (Gnarls Barkley), "Daydream" (The Lovin' Spoonful)
• Syesha Mercado: "Umbrella" (Rihanna), "If I Ain't Got You" (Alicia Keys), "Listen" (Beyoncé)
• David Archuleta: "Angels" (Robbie Williams), "Apologize" (OneRepublic), "Stand by Me" (Ben E. King)/"Beautiful Girls" (Sean Kingston), "When You Say You Love Me" (Josh Groban)
• David Cook: "Hello" (Lionel Richie), "The Time of My Life" (David Cook), "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" (Aerosmith), "My Hero" (Foo Fighters), "Billie Jean" (Michael Jackson/Chris Cornell)
• All 10 contestants: "Don't Stop the Music" (Rihanna)

Additional notes[link]

• Kristy Lee Cook sang "Anyway" (Martina McBride) in place of "God Bless the USA" in the Toronto show.
• Michael Johns did a short a cappella version of "Light My Fire" on the anniversary of Jim Morrison's death at the Fresno show.
• David Cook and Michael Johns did a short dance together, different for each show, at the final group song for most of the shows. The producers stopped their dance performance for a few shows, but relented due to fans' demand.
• During the intermission, a video of the Top 10 performing "We're An American Idol Band" in 70s outfit was shown as part of Guitar Hero World Tour rockumentary, and a Guitar Hero contest for the some members of audience was held.^[6]

Tour dates[link]

Response[link]

The 2008 tour was far more successful than 2007's. Sales were up 38% in revenue per date and average attendance number up 35% compared to 2007. The average percentage of seats filled was 85.1% compared to season six's 68.4%; and 9 out of 53 shows were sold out.^[8]

It is ranked as the 24th biggest grossing tour of 2008 on Billboard's Year-End Music Charts, earning $29,906,507 from a total of 493,296 tickets sold.^[9]

Tour summary[link]

• Number of shows - 53 (9 sold out)
• Total gross - $29,906,507
• Total attendance - 493,296
• Average attendance - 9,307 (85.1%)
• Average ticket price - $60.63
• Highest gross - Rosemont, Illinois - $773,060
• Lowest gross - Evansville, Indiana - $230,814
• Highest attendance - Rosemont, Illinois - 13,101 (100%)
• Lowest attendance - Evansville, Indiana - 3,940 (62.0%)

Idols in Concert for the Holidays[link]

Due to the success of the 2008 tour, Fox and 19 Entertainment have decided to hold a tour called Idols in Concert for the Holidays.^[10] The former Idol contestants headlining the tour include David Hernandez (season 7), Diana DeGarmo (season 3), Kimberley Locke (season 2) and Chikezie (season 7).^[11]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Tour info from the American Idol official website
• Poptarts Tour Website

Brooke White
White in the American Idol Experience motorcade at Walt Disney World.
Background information
Birth name	Brooke Elizabeth White
Born	(1983-06-02) June 2, 1983 (age 29)[1] Phoenix, Arizona
Origin	Mesa, Arizona, United States
Genres	Indie pop, folk-pop
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, actress
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards
Years active	2005–present
Labels	June Baby Records (2009-present)
Associated acts	Michael Johns, Jack and White
Website	www.BrookeWhite.com/ Jack and White

Brooke Elizabeth White (born June 2, 1983) is an American indie pop/folk-pop singer-songwriter and actress from Mesa, Arizona who was the fifth place finalist on the seventh season of American Idol. In 2005, White released her first studio album, called Songs from the Attic. White's first post-Idol album High Hopes & Heartbreak was released on July 21, 2009.^[2][3] The first single "Hold Up My Heart" was released on February 25, 2009, and the song debuted at number 47 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[4] The second single "Radio Radio" was released on June 23, 2009. She is also half of the duo Jack and White.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Brooke Elizabeth White was born in Phoenix, Arizona, and raised in nearby Mesa, with three younger siblings (Katie, Tyler, and Quinn) and her parents, Brad and Kaylene, and is of English descent.^{[citation needed]} She also has family members in Nova Scotia, Canada.^[5]

Personal life[link]

White started singing at 16, when she tried out for the high school musical, Meet Me in St. Louis, and earned the lead role.^[5] White was graduated from Heritage Academy high school in 2001. She, at one time, attended beauty school, and described herself as a "beauty school dropout,"^[5] and shared on Idol that she started doing hair when she was eleven years old. White moved to Los Angeles, California when she was nineteen years old where she attended the Musicians Institute for three months and then spent the next four years honing her craft as a singer-songwriter recording in the studio and performing in the clubs of Hollywood, California under the guidance of Tim Simms. White also spent a year as a nanny for twin baby girls. During her elimination video on American Idol, White stated "It's probably not a secret that I struggled with my own confidence but I'm stronger than I thought I was and that's a great thing to get out of this." White currently resides in Van Nuys, California, with her husband, David Ray.^[6] White is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. White and her husband have one daughter, London, born on May 24, 2012.^[7]

[edit] American Idol

Overview[link]

White performing during the American Idols Live! Tour 2008.

White auditioned for American Idol, in Philadelphia, where she sang "Like a Star" and received positive reviews from all of the judges. During her audition, she admitted to never having seen an R-rated movie, which prompted Cowell to state that he could "bring her over to the dark side." During Hollywood week, White performed "Beautiful", by Carole King, and accompanied herself on piano. After that performance, judges commented that White reminded them of a young Carly Simon or Carole King.

In the live rounds of the competition, White accompanied herself on guitar for her performances of "You're So Vain", "Jolene", and "I'm a Believer" and on piano for "Let It Be", "Every Breath You Take", "Hero" and "I Am...I Said". Judge Simon Cowell chose White early as one of his four favorites in the competition when he appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show on March 17, 2008.^[8]

During the 1970s theme week, while White performed "You're So Vain", by Carly Simon, she stared at Simon Cowell. It caught the judges' attention and received good reviews from them. White performed an acoustic version of "Love Is a Battlefield" by Pat Benatar, in the next week to good reviews, as well. During the Lennon–McCartney week, she performed "Let It Be", a classic song by The Beatles. Randy Jackson said it was a very heartfelt performance and Simon Cowell said that it was believable and one of the best of the night and that he thought that Brooke had picked good song choices in the past three weeks.

Andrew Lloyd Webber, who served as guest mentor for a show, based on his own music, was particularly impressed by White and predicted a big night for her.^[9] However, three lines into her performance of "You Must Love Me", White apologized, stopped the band and re-started the song from the beginning. She later explained, "I lost the lyric." Simon Cowell stated that he would have done the same thing, had he been in her situation. It was the first time in the show's history that a contestant restarted a performance from a point so far into the song. (White had previously restarted "Every Breath You Take", after a single odd note.) Despite this, she was the third contestant to be named safe on the subsequent results show, while Carly Smithson went home.

When White performed "I'm a Believer" and "I Am...I Said", during Neil Diamond week, she personalized the latter, at Diamond's own suggestion, by changing the lyrics from "I'm New York City born and raised" to "I'm Arizona born and raised."

White was in the bottom three three times, once on April 2 after performing Dolly Parton's song "Jolene", again on April 16 after performing Mariah Carey's "Hero", and when she was eliminated on April 30, 2008 after performing "I'm a Believer" and "I Am...I Said".

Performances/Results[link]